J.R. Martinez To Try To Pass 31,000 At NYC Marathon

[4]“Dancing With The Stars” winner J.R. Martinez will start this year’s New York City Marathon in last place, and try to pass at least 31,000 of the race’s 47,000 runners. For every person he beats, Timex will donate a dollar to New York Road Runners Youth Programs[5].

Martinez says he’s focused on place, not time, in what will be his first marathon. His goal is to raise $31,000 and outdo previous Timex challengers, such as former New York Giant Amani Toomer and softball Olympian Jennie Finch, who raised $25,000 and $30,000, respectively.

Martinez and partner Karina Smirnoff won last season’s “Dancing with the Stars,” beating Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke. He also had a role in ABC’s drama “All My Children” and recently authored a book, Full of Heart[6]. He frequently travels as a motivational speaker.

Whether it’s untying shoes, setting up barricades with the NYPD, or agreeing to take pictures with fans only to run off before the shutter clicks, Martinez joked that he will do his best to distract racers to achieve his goal.

“I’m going to try everything I can to pass 31,000 people and make that money for that program because it does great things,” he says. “They’re teaching kids about running, and ultimately it’s educating them on health and a good lifestyle.”

Martinez began training in June, and with two months to go before race day, he is up to running 11 miles. “This is completely brand new to me, which is a little intimidating, you know, but at the same time it’s exciting,” he says.

Martinez has a strong Timex connection. When he joined the U.S. Army in 2002, he bought a watch by the brand to keep military time. While deployed to Iraq, he was involved in an explosion that burned nearly 40 percent of his skin. What didn’t burn, though, was his left wrist, the one wearing the Timex watch.

“If you look at my left wrist, you can see that it’s not burned,” Martinez says. “My hand is burned, and my arm is burned. My wrist isn’t.”

On his 25th birthday, Martinez got a tattoo of a watch on his unburned wrist that says the date and time of the accident.

“It’s essentially my Timex watch,” Martinez says. “So I always have a watch on. The time never changes, but I still wear the watch.”